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Timothy Findley (1930–2002)

Autor(a) de The Wars

31+ Works 6,776 Membros 127 Críticas 47 Favorited

About the Author

Timothy Findley was born in 1930. A native of Toronto, Canada, novelist and playwright Timothy Findley initially embarked upon an acting career. Findley worked for the Canadian Stratford Festival and later, after study at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, he toured Britain, Europe, and mostrar mais the United States as a contract player. While performing in The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, Findley was encouraged by the playwright to write fiction. Influenced by film techniques, Findley's first novel, The Last of the Crazy People (1967) is a penetrating look at a family of "emotional cripples" from a child's perspective. With his character Hooker, Findley captures the irrational logic of a child's mind without treating childhood sentimentally.The Butterfly Plague followed in 1969. The Wars (1978), Findley's most successful novel, has been translated into numerous languages and was made into a film. The Wars uses the device of a story-within-a-story to illustrate how a personality transcends elemental forces even while being destroyed by them. In 1981 Famous Last Words was published. This fictionalization of Hugh Selwyn Mauberley by Ezra Pound, a work that was already a "fictional fact," examines fascism. In Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984), Findley rewrites the story of Noah's Ark by giving voices to women, children, workers, animals, and folklore creatures, all of whom question Noah's authority. The novel turns into a parable that seems to challenge imperialism, eugenics, fascism, and any other force that endangers human survival. Again repeating an earlier text, Findley turns to Thomas Mann's Death in Venice to write The Telling of Lies (1986). This novel draws parallels between World War II atrocities and contemporary North America, which Findley sees as a metaphoric concentration camp. Findley died on June 20, 2002 in Provence, France (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Image credit: Elisabeth Feryn

Obras por Timothy Findley

The Wars (1977) 1,196 exemplares
Pilgrim (1999) 1,008 exemplares
Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984) 988 exemplares
The Piano Man's Daughter (1995) 602 exemplares
Famous Last Words (1981) 486 exemplares
Headhunter (1993) 440 exemplares
Spadework (2001) 374 exemplares
The Telling of Lies (1986) 290 exemplares
The Last of the Crazy People (1967) — Autor — 241 exemplares
You Went Away (1996) 208 exemplares
Stones {anthology} (1988) 184 exemplares
The Butterfly Plague (1969) 161 exemplares
Dust to Dust: Stories (1997) 135 exemplares
Dinner Along the Amazon (1984) 123 exemplares

Associated Works

The Diviners (1974) — Posfácio, algumas edições1,184 exemplares
Bad Trips (1991) — Contribuidor — 233 exemplares
In Another Part of the Forest: An Anthology of Gay Short Fiction (1994) — Contribuidor — 174 exemplares
Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic (1990) — Contribuidor — 152 exemplares
From Ink Lake: Canadian Stories (1990) — Contribuidor — 128 exemplares
The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1986) — Contribuidor — 111 exemplares
The New Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories (1986) — Contribuidor — 73 exemplares
Story of a Nation: Defining Moments in Our History (2001) — Contribuidor — 50 exemplares
The Oxford Book of Canadian Ghost Stories (1990) — Contribuidor — 19 exemplares
Ark of Ice (1992) — Contribuidor — 15 exemplares
Bizarre Dreams (1994) — Contribuidor — 11 exemplares
Any time at all and other stories (1993) — Editor — 9 exemplares
The Inward Sun: Celebrating the Life and Work of Janet Frame (1994) — Contribuidor — 6 exemplares

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Group Read, April 2022: The Wars em 1001 Books to read before you die (Junho 2022)

Críticas

 
Assinalado
BooksInMirror | 16 outras críticas | Feb 19, 2024 |
Rereading this after more than a decade and half since my first encounter. I remembered very little of the plot other than the basics, and I think this was to its benefit.

The writing is sumptuous and full... but also intensely readable. Findley is tightly controlling the words on the page to easily allow you to sink into a flow of words, ideas, and images, always powerful but never overwhelming.

One review says that Findley, as a former actor, has a sense of the theatrical and I think that's what's so delicious about his prose here. So many small gestures are recorded with an actor's eye to what they can express, even if it is a little arch or melodramatic. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it's very intentionally and masterfully done.

Taking Jung and allowing him to be mistaken, to stumble, to be human in all of the ways that matter, actually enhances some of the Jungian thought inside the book, because we witness it come from struggle rather than some burst of inspiration.

Some of the critiques of the novel have said it meanders too far, or that it doesn't resolve it's plot threads, and again, this feels very intentionally and masterfully done. What I can see in each of these reviews is the yearning for resolution and clear meaning that we hope for in most of the stories we consume... but Findley is intending to make us face a lack of certainty, a lack of safe conclusion.

There is a thread of hope at the end, though. There is a way through everything that the novel offers, but it does require work. Again, as a theatrical writer, Findley is asking the audience to be a part of the ending, through it's attempt to interpret.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
JasonMehmel | 21 outras críticas | Feb 9, 2024 |
I loved this book. The descriptive language brought out so many emotions in me and as I finished reading it I was in tears. Has also made me want to find out more about WWI, especially the role Canadians played in it.
 
Assinalado
beentsy | 24 outras críticas | Aug 12, 2023 |
I really liked this book, although it was a bit of a slow start. By the time I was in the last quarter or so I found myself slowing down and trying to make it last a bit longer.

The humanization of C.G. Jung was particularly interesting and I think I might have a look for a biography of him to learn more about his life.
 
Assinalado
beentsy | 21 outras críticas | Aug 12, 2023 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
31
Also by
14
Membros
6,776
Popularidade
#3,610
Avaliação
3.8
Críticas
127
ISBN
220
Línguas
12
Marcado como favorito
47

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